Irish businessman on auction short-list

April 7, 2008 9:00am

An Irish Jewish businessman is on the short-list for the largest property auction in German history.

David Tomkin, whose property holding company maintains a large portfolio of buildings in some of Dublin’s wealthiest neighborhoods, will be bidding against some of the biggest names in global banking on 92,000 apartments being sold by the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. The deal is estimated to be worth $5 billion.

Among those Tomkin is competing with are Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

The sale is part of the German government’s disposal of state-run affordable housing, and Tomkin reportedly is promising to run the properties using “socially responsible” principles and will not seek high rents.

Tomkin’s family began accumulating its Irish portfolio before World War II and is believed to have one of the most extensive property holdings in the country.